Gary – I would be very interested to see a copy of your drawings, and I have sent you a PM with details.

I have two Centec Automills – an "A" and a "B" – and the vertical head without the quill. This fits directly onto the Automill (A) but not the type B as the dovetail in the column is wider. I'm sure you knew that but others less familiar with the marque may wonder what the difference is.

I bought a lump of EN1A leaded a little while ago to make a riser/adaptor block – the job would be immensely easier with the drawings to hand.

Best rgds Simon

Bill,if you look up “centec raising block” on this site you’ll find a recent discussion about this. A 2b isn’t quite long enough to make the long block so the 2a certainly can’t and there’s no point in having the short block( unless you’re willing to give up the horizontal facility) because of the weight of the vert. head. Still trying to organise getting mine made,I’ll send you a pm tomorrow. Frank

The drawings I created for making the blocks were intended for my own use only, but I've had so many requests for them that I've put them in a PDF. They are not really of publishable quality but they are what I used, so they do the job. If you decide to redistribute them then please acknowledge their origin.

The PDF can be found **HERE**

Here are some photos of a few

Thanks from me too.

If I may ask, from where did you obtain the alloy bar?

Thanks
Bill

Edited By peak4 on 14/08/2019 16:23:49

Many thanks for the PDF Gary, that's very helpful and very kind.

Brian

Please point out any flaws in my thoughts.

I think I would “fabricate” rather than machine in one piece.

The only really important aligned part would be the bottom sliding bevel.

The vertical head only needs alignment to maintain it perfectly perpendicular to the table in one direction (long travel tramming is achieved by adjusting the head. Minor shimming of a separate part is easily carried out once initially aligned.

The belt drive can accommodate any very slight mis-alignment, but anything important would be obvious, so not an issue.

The vertical head, when not in use does not need to slide to the rear of the riser. Only a short dovetail is needed.

Unless the head is rotated to nearly horizontal, it cannot be moved back very far at all.

A separate bottom dovetail requires substantial support – the mass of the riser should support the extra weight of the vertical head overhanging so needs to be substantial (not a skinny riser).

The head is only held by the two holding lugs, so actually bears only on one side after tightening securely in position.

This leads me to the conclusion that only a parallel block of aluminium actually needs to be used as a basis for the load bearing structure with both the top and bottom bevelled parts securely fixed to it (or possibly only one).

My riser raises the head by 120mm, I think – I could measure it up if anyone is interested. It is not light, of course, even in aluminium.

I think mine on a 2B might well be one made by Gary but it has no ‘Centec’ labels attached.. Block was 90mm x 127mm x 456mm (shock horror – did he short change someone by a mm?)

I think Gary has miscalculated the lift delivered in that he has subtracted both the top and bottom dovetails when it is only less the one – the male one – which reduces the lift from block original dims. The lift of mine is approx 116-117mm.

added:  aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk do square bar 114mm. Costs £145 – a bit expensive to shave off £35 quids worth of swarf!.  Makes adding separate dovetails, to get 110mm lift and shave off £15 quids worth of scrap from a 4” piece look almost worthwhile?  But adding in the cost of the dovetails will knock a hole in the savings for the ally.

A 3 1/2” block at £88 gets better and a 220mm block @ £42 (or £55 for a l4&rdquo seems tempting if you don’t mind lifting off the vertical head when going horizontal milling…

Delivery extra, of course.

Edited By not done it yet on 14/08/2019 21:26:47